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Angus Soutar
In the short story African Assignment, Angus Soutar was an itinerant trader who worked under a government licence in East Africa. With his son Thomas, he trekked through the outlying districts in an ox wagon, bartering goods with the natives in the villages who called him "Sootoo". On one visit to the Ubeni reserve, he and Tommy met with an unfriendly reception. This had already been reported by the Assistant Game Ranger of the area, Captain Callingham, but Angus found that the natives were off-hand to the point of insolent. This had never happened to him before and he was upset. Angus also noticed that some of the natives were drunk, with empty gin bottles much in evidence. Other natives had bedecked themselves with empty sardine tins and jam jars as ornaments. Angus concluded that a white man had given them these things in return for services rendered. Perceiving that the atmosphere was tense and unsafe, Angus decided to move on and set up camp some ten miles away by the shore of a lake. Later that evening, a native visited Angus and offered something in a blue tin. In exchange, Angus gave him a large amount of tobacco. Tommy noticed that Angus looked worried. Telling Tommy that there was "dirty work" going on at Ubeni and that he wanted to get to the bottom of it, he departed for the village. His last instruction to Tommy was that if he did not return, Tommy was to go to the District Officer to report. As things turned out, Angus did not return. Tommy, supposing him to be dead, made his way, through many difficulties, to Juba where he reported to the British authorities. Biggles was asked to investigate and he and Ginger flew out to Ubeni, picking up Tommy at Juba on the way. They found Angus' abandoned ox wagon. Most of the contents and trade goods in the wagon had been robbed but there was a secret compartment which had not been touched. From it, Biggles retrieved the blue box which turned out to contain a quantity of uncut diamonds. Biggles had already suspected that a German film making couple, the Steiners, could be involved as they operated a flying boat and Tommy had reported seeing one. Biggles showed Tommy a photo taken by the Steiners and he identified it as a place need the Ubeni village. Biggles sent Ginger to report to Raymond for instructions but before he returned, the Steiner flying boat arrived at Ubeni. Biggles made his way to the native village and discovered that Angus was not in fact dead, but had been kidnapped and imprisoned by the natives. The Steiners had been trading for raw diamonds with the natives, offering them gin and tobacco in return. The tribal chief had taken Angus prisoner to prevent him from reporting to the authorities. The Steiners at first resisted arrest and accidentally shot the tribal chief, making the atmosphere tense. This was however resolved by the arrival of Ginger and am R.A.F. flying boat loaded with troops. The Steiners were arrested and Biggles flew Angus to Egypt for medical treatment. Angus recovered and was soon well enough to resume his activities as an itinerant trader. Category:People Category:Biggles characters Category:Air Police era characters